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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29730549">to neverland</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/'>Anonymous</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>NCT (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Cute, Developing Friendships, M/M, No Plot/Plotless, Small Towns, Summer Nights, i just want to hug doyoung, they've known each other for twenty minutes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 20:07:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,564</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29730549</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Look, the fireflies are coming out!” </p><p>Jaehyun’s surprised at how wide Doyoung’s grinning, that he’s even smiling at all. He sympathises, though. Fireflies are cool.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Anonymous</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>to neverland</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>unedited, it's a bit rough ^^  - it gets better after the first few paragraphs i promise</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sun’s unusually bright today, it’s been glaring through his windows since Jaehyun woke up. Different windows, but windows nevertheless. It’s early enough in the season to remember when the sun used to set, and he knows that a month ago, it would have been long gone by now. Today’s heat carries the unpleasant humidity from summers long ago. It comes with a hint of sadness, when the evening sun paints the leaves gold. </p><p>        He’s walking down the street of gravel, watching children start to come out to play. The night time draft picks up. The kids don’t come out in the day anymore, there aren’t enough trees to stay cool. He kicks the dirt, watching the cloud rise, watching it hit someone square in the eye. And so they run, crying, to their mother, and she glares until Jaehyun bows an apology. It’s trivial. But the town’s small, so much so that whoever he didn’t know then, he’d come to know in a week; it was too easy to get in trouble, or so he’d learnt early on.</p><p>        He’d been a troublemaker as a child, but he doesn’t derive the same pleasure from tormenting adults anymore. He certainly didn’t go out of his way to make problems; his mother said he’d gotten it all out of his system then, that his teenage years shouldn’t be a problem. He was on straight tracks to being a golden child, she said, and he’d been developing quite nicely. Energy spent destroying furniture was now spent in the basketball court down the street, and time spent mocking his parents was replaced with time staring silently out the balcony. </p><p>        The wind gets a little more chilly, and his steps get a little faster. Someone’s having a barbecue in their backyard, he smells it when it wafts past. His mind wanders- would Mark, and his wonderful chef of a dad, let him in for another snack? Maybe, but he knows he’s really not hungry, he’d eaten not an hour ago. He looks at the trees again, and notices how the streetlights have started to buzz, how crickets have started to chirp. </p><p>        And, how a marimba has started playing. </p><p>        He hadn’t known there was a marimba player in town, but he can tell they aren’t experienced, because it’s quiet and the clunks are too hesitant. He’s heard enough piano to know what music’s supposed to sound like, and this isn’t it, not by a long shot. Unless, perhaps, it was, and that would mean marimbas should not exist in this town. Or anywhere, for that matter. </p><p>        The clunks are loudest when he stands at the end of the road, under the mansions that couldn’t quite be called mansions. They were huge, but the mansions on tv were sleek, modern, black, white, and these were anything but that. They were all eccentric in their own ways, and together, they made up a neighborhood-edition page of Spot-What. </p><p>        He stands beside the house in the middle, it’s the only one that would fit a marimba. Not space-wise, but atmospherically. When he looks at it, he realizes it’s so much more beautiful than he’d ever given it credit for. It looks like something straight out of a Chinese historical drama, complete with a bamboo terrace and waterfalls in its backyard. But even with its curved roofs, it was contained perfectly within its row of oddities; it all warranted a stop to look at the houses, together, but none of them individually. If the house was anywhere else in town, it would be spectacular. On this street, though, it was only normal. </p><p>        And because Jaehyun is Jaehyun, and curious, of course he knocks on the bamboo door. He’s anticipating a lot, and not thinking quite so much. When the marimba stops making sound, he sees a shadow peer through the giant tinted window, and it leaves after a minute, then footsteps sound behind the door. It’s silent before the lock is toggled open. The door makes a hollow creaking sound, and Jaehyun thinks it’s the longest moment he’s experienced in his life. </p><p>        In the doorframe stands a boy, tall, lanky, who couldn’t be much older than himself. </p><p>        “Hi?”</p><p>        Jaehyun takes a few looks at him, chokes on air.</p><p>        Then he laughs until he doesn’t know how to breathe anymore. </p><p>        The boy stares down, but it doesn’t intimidate him. He steps back into the doorframe without demanding an explanation, and Jaehyun finally holds his hands up to stop him.</p><p>        “It’s just that.. You look so… ruffled. You know? Like, your house is magnificent, but…” Jaehyun trails off. They’ve barely seen each other for two minutes, and this isn’t a great conversation starter, but the boy really does seem so out of place. </p><p>         The boy shrugs.</p><p>        “Yeah, okay.” </p><p>         Just okay? Normally, when Jaehyun’s mouth goes faster than his brain, reactions are much worse. </p><p>        "Were you playing the marimba?”</p><p>        “Yeah.” </p><p>        “Are you new? I’ve never seen you around.” The boy hums.</p><p>        “No, but I get that a lot. For some reason.” </p><p>        Jaehyun wouldn’t say it to his face, but most people avoided this section of town. Humans didn’t like peculiar things.</p><p>        “I’ve never seen you at school.” </p><p>        The town is tiny, so there’s exactly one elementary school, one secondary. He isn’t even sure they’re two different schools, they’re so close together, but he doesn't remember this boy from either. </p><p>        “I got sent to boarding school.” Oh, that explains it.</p><p>        “Do you have friends here?” </p><p>        It sounds insensitive once he says it out loud, but he’s curious, and the boy’s far too bizarre for him to care. The boy hums again, and turns to look at him weirdly. Jaehyun gets it. </p><p>        “Not really. I talk to Taeyong sometimes, but only because he brings cookies over on New Years’.” </p><p>        Jaehyun doesn’t know Taeyong too well, their parents never got along, but he’s heard enough to know it’s something he would do. It’s nice, he thinks, to be part of such a community. </p><p>        “Wanna be friends?” The boy blinks.</p><p>        “What?” </p><p>        “Do you wanna be friends?”</p><p>        “You don’t even know my name. I don’t know yours.” He breathes in, deep. “You don’t know me.” </p><p>        Jaehyun grins. </p><p>        “Okay then. My name’s Jaehyun. What’s yours?”</p><p>        “Doyoung.” It’s a pretty, graceful name, and Jaehyun likes it.  </p><p>        “We don’t have to be friends yet,” Jaehyun says. “Do you go to the park often?”</p><p>        “No, I don’t like going outside.”</p><p>        “Would you like to go now?” Doyoung blinks, again.</p><p>        “We met ten minutes ago.”</p><p>        “And?”</p><p>        Doyoung fiddles with the hem of his shirt.</p><p>        “It’s getting dark.”</p><p>        “I brought a flashlight. There are always teenagers out anyway, so it’ll be fine.”</p><p>        Doyoung stares for a while. Jaehyun feels the breeze ruffle his shirt a little, and watches as Doyoung’s mouth opens, like he doesn’t know what to say. </p><p>        “Sure, I guess,” he says, at last, and Jaehyun’s grin grows wider. </p><p>        “Will your parents mind?” </p><p>        Doyoung frowns. </p><p>        “No.” </p><p>        As Jaehyun stands at the doorway, waiting for Doyoung to grab his sweater, he grips his flashlight again; his hands are a little colder now, and the ridges are clearer than before. He’s still surprised that Doyoung agreed to come. He’d meant it when he offered, but there had been no expectations; then again, he hadn’t been thinking when he’d rung the doorbell, either. </p><p>        When he finally stands beside Doyoung, Jaehyun realizes how put-together Doyoung is. Even with his disheveled hair and clumsy cardigan, he doesn’t look like he belongs here. Here, in the middle of nowhere, with only one grocery store and a library that reeked of damp wood. Where everyone knew everyone, except Doyoung and his family. </p><p>        “How old are you?” Jaehyun asks. </p><p>        “Fourteen.”  </p><p>        “We’re the same age, then.” Doyoung nods like he couldn’t care less, and goes back to looking at the trees. </p><p>        Jaehyun isn’t used to walking in silence, because most people in town are loud, noisy, and that’s what he’s become comfortable with. But Doyoung talks like he has a lock on his lips, an old one that looks like it can’t be opened anymore. His mannerisms are all far removed from what Jaehyun’s always known, but he thinks he could get used to it. So, Jaehyun starts to look at the trees too. If Doyoung likes looking at them more than he likes talking, there must be something Jaehyun isn’t seeing. </p><p>        He’s never paid attention to the birds on wires before, how they chirped at some and flew off at the sight of others.</p><p>        Beside him, Doyoung comes to a gentle halt. </p><p>        “Would you leave here, if you could?” </p><p>        The question is unexpected, throws Jaehyun off a little, but he doesn’t mind. </p><p>        “No.” They start walking again. </p><p>        “Why not?”</p><p>        “It’s nice here. I’m happy.”</p><p>        “Oh. That sounds quite pleasant.”</p><p>        Jaehyun nods, but he doesn’t answer. They’re rounding the corner, and grass is starting to replace gravel. For such a small town, the park is still as beautiful to him as he could ever want it. </p><p>        “This is pretty.”</p><p>        “It is, isn’t it?”</p><p>        “I forgot it looked like this, the rest of the town is so dreary.”</p><p>        “Yeah, I know. If I didn’t come here everyday, I’d have forgotten it too.”</p><p>        Doyoung nods offhandedly. </p><p>        “Look, the fireflies are coming out!” </p><p>        Jaehyun’s surprised at how wide Doyoung’s suddenly grinning, that he’s even smiling at all. He sympathises, though. Fireflies are cool. </p><p>        “Yeah! I used to keep them in a jar for days. I don’t anymore, though. I think I started to grow a conscience, and now I just feel bad for them.” In the corner of his eye, he sees Doyoung smirk.</p><p>        “What?” </p><p>        Doyoung snorts. It makes him look more human. </p><p>        “You don’t seem like someone who’d feel bad for a firefly.”</p><p>        “Hey! Don’t judge a book by its cover, you know.”</p><p>        “Huh?”</p><p>        “Don’t judge a book by its cover?”</p><p>        “What?”</p><p>        “Haven’t you heard that before?”</p><p>        “No, why?” </p><p>        Jaehyun stares in disbelief, then shakes his head. </p><p>        “It means you shouldn’t judge someone’s value based on looks alone.” </p><p>        “Oh. That’s really poetic.”</p><p>        “Yeah, I like reading about these things. They’re the only things that stay in my head.”</p><p>        “Hm. What else do you like doing?”</p><p>        Jaehyun frowns. </p><p>        “Not much, really. I just lay around most of the time, you know? There’s no school now, so I don't have to do anything.”</p><p>        “Your parents don’t mind?”</p><p>        “No, I mean, I get exercise and everything. And I have a social life, you know, so they don’t really care much beyond that.” </p><p>        “That sounds nice.”</p><p>        “It is nice.” </p><p>        Their conversation doesn’t flow much beyond that, because Doyoung’s run out of questions. They’re passing the old wooden playground, and it’s Jaehyun’s turn now. He’s really curious about Doyoung, a strange boy from a strange house, in his town. He has so many questions, about his life, parents, education, all of it, and he doesn't know where to start. </p><p>	“Why does your house look like that?” </p><p>	“I dunno, I think my mom just wanted a house like this. She used to watch a lot of c-dramas. The land was probably cheaper here, so they got it built.”</p><p>	Jaehyun’s in awe. From the size of the house, he could tell Doyoung was rich, but he hadn’t registered the extent. It strokes his curiosity even more. There was no one in his town he’d consider poor, but he wouldn’t consider anyone particularly affluent. </p><p>	“Woah. You must have a lot of stuff then, huh? Do you guys have a pool? Is that what rich people do with their money?”     </p><p>	“No,” Doyoung chortles. “Well, yes, we have a pool, but of all things. A pool? Really? We could’ve had yachts, lamborghinis, and that’s what you ask about? A pool?”</p><p>	Jaehyun stares, wide-eyed. </p><p>	“A yacht? Do you really?” </p><p>        Doyoung shakes his head no, still amused.</p><p>        “We could, but I don’t think my parents care much for them.”</p><p>	“Do you want one?”</p><p>	“No, I’m not interested in those things either.” </p><p>	“What do you spend money on, then?”</p><p>	“I don’t. I used to have a lot of toys when I was little, but not anymore.” Doyoung frowns. “Dad still gets me a bunch of designer stuff, but they don’t feel like gifts anymore. It’s like he’s paying me off.” He tugs on his sleeve. </p><p>	“Paying you off?” </p><p>	“Yeah. I see his gifts more than him now, like he’s paying me to forget about him.”</p><p>	Jaehyun grimaces. He hadn’t expected to get so much from only a few minutes of talking. </p><p>	“That must suck.”</p><p>	“It used to, but I don’t care anymore.”</p><p>	“You don’t seem to know much about yourself.” Well, that was a lot less smooth than it’d sounded in his head. Doyoung halts a little, surprised, and frankly, Jaehyun’s surprised at himself too. He doesn’t think he and Doyoung have that kind of relationship yet. </p><p>	“No, really. My memory’s really bad.”</p><p>	“You might wanna get that checked out.”</p><p>	Doyoung’s eyes crinkle. Jaehyun thinks it’s pretty.</p><p>	“What are you insinuating?”</p><p>	“Like, you’re probably fine. But you also might have amnesia.” </p><p>	“Hm, amnesia doesn’t sound too bad.”</p><p>	“Maybe, but you won’t be able to remember anything for school.”</p><p>	“Ah, that’s even better. I’d have an excuse for failing, right?” Jaehyun frowns. </p><p>	“Do you not like school?”</p><p>	“No. You?”</p><p>	“It’s not too bad, yet.” </p><p>	Doyoung hums, and suddenly, they’re walking in silence once again. But it’s okay. The sky’s darker, the fireflies are brighter, and it’s getting chilly. Jaehyun envies Doyoung’s sweater, he can feel little goosebumps forming on his arm. They’re also nearing the end of the trail, where there’s a metal gate. Sometimes, you can hear cars passing by, but it’s quiet today, just him, the streetlights, and Doyoung. </p><p>	“Sit with me.” </p><p>        Jaehyun breaks away, settling on a patch of grass. He sits where the streetlights can barely reach, where the light of fireflies spreads along the grass. Doyoung follows.</p><p>        It’s beautiful.  </p><p>	“It’s like we’re in a fairytale,” Doyoung breathes. “It looks like somewhere fairies would live.”</p><p>	“Imagine, fairies in the tree hollows, lighting little lanterns. Do you think they’d be friends with the fireflies?”</p><p>	Doyoung giggles.</p><p>	“They could keep them as pets, you know? Feed them flower nectar, and whatever else fairies eat.”</p><p>	“Yeah. We could be Peter Pan and Wendy, and this would be our Neverland.” </p><p>	“Yeah, I’d be Peter Pan.”</p><p>	“No way, I would!” </p><p>	“No, see?” Doyoung moves a little. “I don’t have my shadow anymore.”</p><p>	“Hey! That’s only because you’re too far from the light. Watch, my shadow can go away too.” Jaehyun scoots back until he’s in front of a tiny sapling. “See? No shadow.” </p><p>	“Doesn’t count, now I can’t even see your body.” </p><p>        Jaehyun pouts.</p><p>	“Alright, fine. I’ll be Wendy.” He doesn’t bother moving into the light. Trying for a higher tone, he says, “where would you like your shadow placed, sir?”</p><p>	Doyoung bursts into laughter. It doesn't matter now, whether he’d met Doyoung an hour or a year ago, because all he feels right now is belonging. In their little piece of the world, where all his worries are light enough to be blown away, he’s safe.  </p><p>	Abruptly, Doyoung turns to him with wide eyes, takes his hand, and asks, “Jaehyun, will you come to Neverland with me?” </p><p>	Jaehyun moves into the light, and presses his forehead to their hands. “I will.” </p><p>        The words hang still for a moment. Doyoung closes his eyes. </p><p>        “Good.”</p><p>        And god, Jaehyun wishes he could stay here forever.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>♡</p></blockquote></div></div>
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